The Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development Award will allow me the time and support to develop expertise needed to transition my career from one primarily focused on method development in the healthcare industry to one focused on independent clinical research and inter-disciplinary research program development. Hawai'i is an ideal environment to study HIV and drug abuse, given the unique HIV positive population here and that rates of methamphitamine abuse are the worst in the country. The rapidly expanding research infrastructure at the University of Hawai'i, John A. Burn School of Medicine combined with resources at the Queen's Medical Center will provide me with the institutional environment necessary to conduct independent research on drug abuse and HIV/AIDS. Through the mentorships of Drs. Linda Chang and Thomas Ernst and a network of experienced scientific and clinical researchers, as well as well designed training plan, I will obtain the foundation and experience necessary to become an independent clinical researcher. The purpose of the proposed research is in two parts (1) to study the level of brain glutamate (Glu) using single voxel and multi-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in methamphetamine users. The methodology I co-developed to detect uncontaminated glutamate signal in human brain will be used in these studies. The results from this study will unambiguously determined the true level of brain glutamate in the drug abuse and HIV/AIDS populations rather than the combined glutamate and glutamine (Glx) commonly reported now. (2) to study the glutamate/glutamine cycle using carbon-13 magnetic resonance spectroscopy in methamphetamine users and HIV/AIDS patients. The uptake kinetics of infused C-1 carbon- 13 enriched glucose will be followed by mean of measuring the increasing/decreasing of the C4 resonances of Glu and Gln as a function of time immediately after the infusion. The results from this part of the studies will further the understanding of brain metabolism and function among the affected populations. The proposed research studies and training plan will provide me the necessary experience and knowledge to conduct safe and ethically sound clinical research and the knowledge to become an independent clinical researcher. Findings from the proposed research will guide me in my future research direction.